WRITTEN ON August 12th, 2006 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Uncategorized
What is the most important thing one could get across to government CIOs from 38 countries in half an hour?
It’s not an idle question as I’ve got to speak next month at the annual conference of the ICA. I’ve always been a bit fascinated by the ICA – is it a talking shop, or a holy of holies? It’s rare in having minimal industry involvement….but is it introspective in a way that means it can’t empathise with citizens and end users? Well, I may be about to find out.
I was rereading how one senior US correspondent described citizen-centricity vs other priorites a year ago….
Industry and government have drastically shifted the balance of power. No one looks out for the public except for a few NGO’s who rarely have an audience.The Dutch program [e-citizen charter] is a model for all governments and should have an enthusiastic audience in this country.
Also, it seems to me that e-gov is on its last legs here. Like fireworks, a big flash, and then darkness. Macro trends in the world and self inflicted issues have
our governments here panting to catch up. E-gov didn’t deliver, as promised, when it had the opportunity. Now the window has closed.Leaders have moved on to other issues.
Man, if it’s really that bad we face a near-hopeless task. But it can’t be that bad. Or rather, since these are issues that just wont go away, if we dont recognise and deal with them soon then it’ll just have to be later. SO this has got to be worth doing.
OK, I’ll respond!
What a hard-bitten, cynical comment from that “US correspondent”. What, now we have McDonalds everywhere, iPods and downloads of music and movies, we are to expect instant gratification in the supply of government services too? Get real!
We didn’t get overnight change in banking and finance, we didn’t get it in e-travel and on-line shopping — we haven’t had it anywhere, really. So why expect instant result in government?
Government programmes are extensive and complex. Unlike retail and backing, access to services for potentially excluded groups (aka the poor, sometimes neglected by our US brethren) is a very real issue. And programmes have existed for decades (eg, NHS) — significant business transformation and process redesign is required, and that must be done properly to avoid the costly project failures we know so well.
I am disturbed — always — by the short term horizon of politicians. The next election is everything. But that’s where the strength of an independent, professional civil service is paramount — example here of course is Italy, which keeps pace despite constant political change. Fear not, it will happen, just not as soon as we’d like. The pressure and capability for change is inexorable. Go forth to ICA, William, and preach the gospel of egovernment change as the art of the possible, but within the practical timeframe of the bureaucrat. (I’ll let you into a secret — most ICA members already know this
)